


Stripes

by Aliena (ChokolatteJedi)



Category: Original Work
Genre: Early Work, Gen, Insanity, Mental Institutions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2003-11-17
Updated: 2003-11-17
Packaged: 2017-10-26 21:34:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 923
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/288160
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChokolatteJedi/pseuds/Aliena
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The stripes were back</p>
            </blockquote>





	Stripes

Shaylee opened her eyes. The stripes were back. Well, to say they were back was a mistake. They were always there, but sometimes they faded out, almost to invisibility, and hung around at the back of her mind. But today they were a bright bold blue, covering the background and most of the people who passed her bed.

She tried to remember the last time they were that shade of blue. It was when she saw the third, no the fourth new intern at Clearview. He flipped out during a final and joined her on Ward C before he was deemed violent and moved to E. But not all new arrivals were greeted with Blue stripes. She was going to meet someone today who was sane, but would go crazy. Someone who would walk into Cliffside today would soon return as a patient.

Shaylee wished she was back at Clearview. She wasn’t considered crazy enough for Ward C, nor violent enough for Ward E, nor recovering enough for A or B/ and only vegetables went to Ward D. Cliffside had a more moderate system that would “...mesh together better with her needs and personality…” in the words of her new doctor. At least Doc Shamus had seemed to believe her about the stripes and occasional spots. Her new Doctor, Ms. Emerson, was completely impersonal and didn’t believe in the stripes.

Shaylee knew she wouldn’t believe; her stripes were orangy-yellow and sort of thin and pale. She had encountered that variety before, both the color and the fading. Doc Shamus thought that the stripes wilted under the face of disbelief. If Shay-Lee could loose some of her belief in the stripes, they would fade out completely.

Shaylee wished she could talk to him, to tell him about the Blue stripes today. Last time she told him a few days after it happened and so neither was shocked to hear when the intern later lost his marbles and decided he was a ninja.

Shaylee laughed. The world was full of ways to not say insane. “Lost his marbles” was one of her favorites. The best was possibly “her brain is doing more loop-de-loops than an RC airplane,” which her friend Elizabeth Tudor from Clearview had said about another patient.

Elizabeth wasn’t really from the ancient English royal line, but she believed it, so she lived in Ward C with Shaylee. Her other Ward-mates came in all kinds of crazy, including regular skitzos and phobics. Some of the more interesting loonies included William Shakespeare, a genie named Sirtan and the devil himself, as well as a girl who heard music instead of words and a guy who saw everything upside-down. When Shaylee first came there had been a girl convinced she was a Siamese cat, but Carmel was moved to Morning Valley Hospital.

Their stripes were all purple, which Doc Shamus figured meant they were legitimately crazy. There had been a man who swore he was Santa clause, who came in right before Shaylee left. His stripes were a sort of puke green. She thought maybe he was actually sane, or at least a different kind of crazy. Unfortunately she was shipped out before she could tell Doc Shamus.

His stripes were a plaid redish-black, which meant he believed Shaylee and was true in what he said to her. The first and only time he lied to Shaylee, the black stripes paled into a light grey. Shaylee hadn’t spoken to him for three days afterwards, until he told her the real reason her parents hadn’t wanted to come visit. After that they swore to be honest with each other about everything.

Shaylee decided to call Doc Shamus and tell him about the blue stripes. He’d know what to do about them. She’d wait until she met the person, and then she’d use the visitor’s phone. She went to her meeting with Ms. Emerson feeling better.

“I’m afraid you are resisting treatment, Shaylee.” Ms. Emerson’s mouth tightened until she appeared to be lipless. “You aren’t working well with the other doctors and I. It is my opinion that you don’t have a problem at all. These stripes are just a figment of your imagination. You maintain them because you enjoy the attention you get. In our professional opinion, you might be better at another institute.”

Shaylee knew it. It was those orangy-yellow stripes, just like her parents and her first doctor. She left the office blindly, not looking at anyone. How could she get back to Clearview? Ms. Emerson had already proclaimed that Doc Shamus had “encouraged your folly long enough…” so Shaylee doubted she would recommend her switch.

Shaylee was suddenly distracted when the stripes wavered, bending around the figures coming in the door. Shaylee studied them, trying to figure out which person the stripes were indicating. Two adults and a young boy. Harry, a standard skitzo, was waiting for them. They must be his family visiting him. So either Harry’s parents or his little brother was also going insane, according to the stripes. That would make sense, if insanity was hereditary, as one of her doctors had thought. His stripes had been a navy blue.

Shaylee decided to call Doc Shamus now, both to tell him about the blue stripes and to ask to return to Clearview. After a brief chat, he agreed to look into both matters. Shaylee returned to the common room. Buddah and a lion tamer were playing checkers with playing cards, dominoes, and chess pieces, so she sat down to watch.


End file.
